Doug Pederson has confirmed the Philadelphia Eagles remain committed to Carson Wentz as their starting quarterback.
Speaking in a news conference on Tuesday, the head coach insisted the Eagles will stick with Wentz as the starter, despite him missing the past two postseasons due to injuries, including their Super Bowl triumph last season.
Wentz being out meant back-up Nick Foles came under center once again, and he had great results.
After leading the Eagles to glory last year, he helped them into the playoffs this year and beat the Chicago Bears in the Wild Card round before being knocked out of the playoffs by the New Orleans Saints in agonising fashion this past weekend.
But Pederson has not been tempted to make a change, saying: "Yes, Carson Wentz is the quarterback going forward.
"In Nick's case, listen, we'd love to have everybody back throughout the roster but as I've said many times, it's not about one guy, it's about the team, and we're going to do what's best for the team."
.@cj_wentz discusses the #Eagles QB room, reflects on this past season and looks ahead to next year. #FlyEaglesFly
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) January 14, 2019
Full video: https://t.co/qhHi94EfWE pic.twitter.com/WKefUqs07T
Foles, who was the Super Bowl MVP when the Eagles defeated the New England Patriots, was 4-1 as the starter for the Eagles in the 2018 campaign, with the only loss coming to the Saints.
He has a $20million option for the 2019 season, which the Eagles must opt into no later than one week after the Super Bowl. If the team does not exercise the option, Foles can be a free agent this offseason. If they do, he can pay $2m to opt out himself, or play out another year and be available in 2020.
"We would love to keep Nick Foles," executive vice-president of football operations Howie Roseman said.
"You talk about a guy we drafted here and we've grown incredibly close with. I don't know a team that wouldn't want to have Nick Foles on their roster. Certainly as we go into the substance of those discussions, we haven't had them yet, but there's no question we love having Nick Foles as an Eagle in Philadelphia and we'd love to keep him."
.@NickFoles discusses how the #Eagles showed resiliency down the stretch, what it's like to play for Coach Pederson, and much more. #FlyEaglesFly
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) January 14, 2019
Full video: https://t.co/J8m3CXvcLj pic.twitter.com/mh1WJYiyS3
Wentz, who was coming off a severe knee injury from the 2017 season, threw for 3,074 yards with 21 touchdowns and seven interceptions in 11 games before a fractured vertabra derailed him. Wentz said Monday he does not expect his back to be a lingering issue.
"We have a lot of confidence in Carson and his ability to be our quarterback and to hopefully be a 19-game starter when we look at the season and what we're trying to do," Roseman said.
"That being said, coach, from the day he came here, [said] quarterback's always going to be a priority position for us, we're always going to try and have talent at that position.
"We've got great quarterback teachers in this building. We're always going to be looking at that spot and trying to improve like any other spot that's important to our football team."